Curriculum Development

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In the simplest terms, curriculum development may be referred to as a distinct preparation and documentation of what would be taught and learnt in school over a specific period of time. Ralph W. Tyler first coiled this concept in 1949 in his Book Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction. The concept is based on four main principles that according to this essay a parent might answer as a rationale for buying Tyler’s ideology.

Discussion

The first question is the educational goals that the school must seek to incorporate in its curriculum. Ideally, most schools set their curriculum within some clearly determined goals against which to measure change and to develop and maintain focus. For instance, in a sociology class, its curriculum may provide that it is aimed at producing all-round and well-educated student Other goals such as scholars with intellectual capability and criticality are among the goals that a school could aim at incorporating in its students.

Secondly, is the need for educational experience in order to attain the above goals? According to Wiles, teachers have varying experiences depending on their level of educational attainment. However, for a parent to rationalize and settle for a particular school with the aim of ensuring the mentioned goals are cultivated in the student there ought to be basic experiences that must be exhibited by staff in a school. Such experiences include the ability to recognize students as active learners and part of learning as opposed to viewing them as objects of studying. It is also paramount that teachers use contextual learning and aim at applying what is learnt in the real life situations. In addition, the ability of teachers to guide the students into incorporating what they have learnt before with what is currently being taught.

Thirdly, is the organization of these experiences effectively? This question is answered if the school demonstrates a clear and logical sequence of learning strategies both in class work and off the class learning. Therefore, learning has to follow some particular order to achieve the goals and to ensure that every part of the process is covered. Finally, the question of how to determine if the goals have been achieved is key to rationalizing a curriculum development. This is possible if, at the end of the program, a scholar demonstrates a remarkable improvement in terms of how to handle situations that require critical thinking and good comprehension.

Conclusion

It is clear from Tyler’s Model of goals, experiences, organization of experiences, and evaluation in curriculum development that they are not universally applicable, but rather, following the framework, depending on the environment, the learner, materials, and the teacher different solutions need to be employed.